Further up lay the 6000-meter mark.
This altitude was far beyond what the human body could normally endure. It was a height only reachable by professional expedition teams with full preparation.
The local guides flatly refused to go further. Helpless, Hatsumi had no choice but to dismiss them and send them back down the mountain.
Without guides, the group, none of whom had a good sense of direction, quickly got lost in the blizzard.
Fortunately, not long after, they encountered a female player carrying a navigation tool. With her help, they finally reached the final point.
There, Caleb faced Giovanni, the ultimate embodiment of evil from the Pokémon-verse.
Giovanni had just materialized from a rift in space. Seeing Caleb alive, his expression shifted from disbelief to grim understanding.
His hawk-like eyes locked onto Caleb, "An irresistible force brought us here. I see now. Even they are aiding you…" He clenched his fists, "Then let's have our final battle!"
Only forty minutes remained on the countdown.
Hatsumi and Terrence exchanged glances. Hatsumi said, "Go on ahead!"
Terrence stepped forward and hugged Caleb tightly. "Don't worry, bro, we'll handle things here. Oh, and say hi to Dragonite for me! Tell lump of cuteness I miss him!"
Unlike Hatsumi, Terrence had spent three whole years by Caleb's side during the Transformation and Substitution Instance. Now they were parting ways, perhaps forever.
Their quest they received wasn't about reaching the world's summit or defeating the remnants of Team Rainbow Rocket. It was simply: Escort a Pokémon-loving youth home.
Caleb returned the hug.
As they separated, Hatsumi smiled, "No need to thank us. The items you left behind when you left saved us many times in later Instances!"
Terrence nodded, "Compared to that, what we're doing now is nothing."
Caleb turned his head and saw all the players around him, both familiar and unfamiliar, looking at him. They nodded at him, standing beside their Pokémon partners, silently conveying that they had things under control.
Caleb bowed deeply in gratitude. Then, he released Zapdos from a Poké Ball, mounted the Legendary bird, and soared into the sky.
Zapdos spoke: >..Articuno would love this place..<
Caleb replied, "Then let's go back and tell your friend all about it."
The two shot through the clouds. With one minute left on the timer, they reached the summit.
Below, mist and snow swirled, making the peak look like a celestial realm. The sheer awe it inspired defied words.
Caleb spotted a spatial rift at the summit's edge. He and Zapdos flew straight toward it.
In the final second before entering, he glanced back and silently bid farewell to his home world.
The next moment, they vanished into the sky, and the rift sealed shut behind them, all surrounding sounds fading away...
....
Caleb opened his eyes and saw a radiant, divine white figure before him. Around it floated eighteen colored plates.
To the figure's left and right hovered two other figures; one blue, one purple.
They were the Original One, Arceus; the Temporal Pokémon, Dialga; and the Spatial Pokémon, Palkia.
A voice of immense authority echoed in Caleb's mind: >..That is your world..<
He turned and saw a beautiful blue planet drifting in the void beyond.
Arceus continued: >..And this place is the world where Pokémon exist..<
Caleb stood between the two worlds, looked at Arceus, and asked, "Did you create Infinite World?"
Arceus shook his head, his emerald eyes gazing deeply at the human: >..No. You did..<
Caleb was stunned.
In that moment, Arceus's eyes seemed to see both the distant future and the ancient past.
The great Alpaca who spat at the face of nothingness and willed the Pokémon multiverse into existence added: >..Within you, I see something called causality..<
Caleb met the radiant Llama's gaze.
>..Countless worlds have been destroyed by greedy humans. Though we are gods who create all things, we are not omnipotent..<
Caleb recalled the movie where Arceus was buried in mercury.
The eighteen plates behind Arceus detached one by one, then floated toward Caleb.
>..Come, all of you! This place is the boundary between worlds and is free from the constraints of time and space..<
As he spoke, more figures emerged from the void around them.
Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, Xerneas, Ho-Oh…
But unlike the Arceus before him, these beings were spectral; that is, they were without physical form.
"This is our request..." the phantom Arceus said.
The material Arceus explained: >..They come from World's that were destroyed..<
After these words, more phantoms appeared. Countless Arceuses and other Legendaries from countless ruined realities emerged from the void.
They surrounded Caleb and Zapdos, their primal energies transforming into streams of light that flowed into Caleb's body.
Dialga's power over time, Arceus's power of creation, Palkia's dominion over space, Ho-Oh's gift of rebirth, and the might of every Legendary that ever was... All of it was bestowed upon one human.
Arceus continued gently: >..We were born from the laws of the cosmos. Though we are legends to humanity, many things cannot be done by us alone. Therefore, we ask you to stop the evil that arises in those worlds, to save the worlds ruled by darkness..<
With that flood of power, Caleb saw everything... He saw the future, the past, Life, and Death.
He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and said, "I understand."
With that, a brilliant light erupted from him, radiating outward.
This void, the space beyond all worlds, began to change.
In the light, Caleb learned when he had first been noticed by this world's Arceus. From the very beginning, when he entered this world (during the first Instance), he had already been noticed.
It was also Arceus who transferred him to Earth after his revival, and who exiled the fleeing Team Rainbow Rocket to that world.
The truth was staggering. Arceus had known everything from the beginning. But that no longer mattered.
Empowered by Legendaries from infinite parallel worlds, the Infinite World was formed.
The first player was summoned and, under Caleb's arrangement, began their training in a Pokémon world.
Then, one after another, deceased humans were summoned.
Caleb saw them training Pokémon, meeting new companions, saw partings and reunions, saw some crying, others laughing.
Some worlds fell into darkness like the Collapsed World Instance, while others were saved by players.
The players supported and accompanied each other.
~~~
{T/N: One chap remaining...}